U-S-A! U-S-A!

Since the blog has been quiet, I decided to elevate our discourse to a higher plane of understanding. One, indeed, might say that had Cliff Lee been throwing more gas, his most recent start might have been a more effective one.

That was the first video, incidentally, I have watched on this PC since my return from Russia. I cannot imagine a better choice. ‘MURICA!

Ever wondered if you’re secretly (or not so secretly) a fascist? I know I always have! That’s why I was eager to see this post on io9. It references the F-scale, developed in 1947. Here’s the quiz itself. I scored a 3.4. The quiz called me “disciplined but tolerant; a true American.” It’s about time somebody else recognized how awesome I am!

Courtesy of 36 Chambers purely theoretical contributor Daniel J. Gudorf, take this test to see if you belong in this country. I got a 55, for reference, which means I am not only a citizen, but a citizen with distinction!

Asked to list the five countries they considered to be hostile or unfriendly to Russia, 38 percent included the United States on the list, followed by Georgia at 33 percent, and the three Baltic states — Latvia at 21 percent, Lithuania at 17 percent, and Estonia at 16 percent.

And this is a recent change, too: recently, we were a paltry second to Georgia. The poll was taken of about 1600 (1601, specifically) Russians “over the age of 18″ (without distinguishing the upper limit). Pollees were asked to name five countries (no indication if an order was given).

Other questions (and results):

“Name five countries that you know of which are our closest friends or allies?” (Top five were Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Ukraine, and Germany).

“What do you think of relations with the United States at the moment?” (51% said either “very good” or “fundamentally good”) There are similar questions for the EU, Ukraine, and Belarus (at 61%, 72%, and 85%, respectively).

“With which of the following opinions do you most agree, regarding relations between Russia and Ukraine?”

Relations between Russia and Ukraine should be the same as other countries, with closed borders, visas, and customs houses. (19%)

Russia and Ukraine should be independent, but friendly states, with open borders, no visas or customs houses. (58%)

Russia and Ukraine should be unified in one state. (15%)

Declined to answer (8%)

“Should Russia strengthen relations with Western countries or countries opposed to the West? (Literally “countries distant from the west.”)” 71% said the West, 16% said the rest, everyone else declined to answer.

Finally, “Should Russia strengthen relations with the Muslim world or countries opposed to Muslims?” Barely over half said Muslims, 30% said non-Muslims, 18% declined to answer.

The actual survey is here. It’s in Russian, but they’ve been doing it over a period of some years with mostly the same questions — the order is the same.

The next few weeks will probably be a bit lighter in terms of content than our non-existent reader base might expect. The reason is that I am getting ready to move to Durham, North Carolina into a new house. This will be my first home, having lived in an apartment for the past several years, and I am looking forward to it. Unfortunately, this means taking the time to do all kinds of home-related things, and that reduces the amount of time I have available to yell at people on the Internet. On the plus side, I’ll finally have a lawn that I can tell people to get off of.